By Claudia Assis

It didn’t take long — Tropical Storm Andrea, the first storm of the hurricane season, made landfall in Florida and was snaking up the East Coast bringing heavy rains and risk of flooding.

Andrea was about to move into North Carolina, according to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center. The storm carried winds of 45 miles per hour, with higher gusts. Tropical-storm conditions will continue up the Eastern Seaboard in the next 12 hours, the NHC said.

Andrea made landfall in Florida Thursday evening with maximum winds of 65 mph.

The hurricane season started June 1 and goes till Nov. 30. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned a couple of weeks ago it will be a “active to extremely active” one, with chance of 13 to 20 named storms, and of those several hurricanes and major hurricanes.

That heightened activity is mostly thanks to continued strong West African monsoons, warmer-than-average water temperatures in the Atlantic and Caribbean, and no El Nino this year, NOAA said. El Ninos typically make it harder for hurricanes to form.

Story Conversation

About Energy Ticker

Energy Ticker is MarketWatch’s blog about the energy industry and investing in energy companies. It’s meant to serve as a guide for investors looking for the newest, most important and market moving news and information on the industry. Hosted by lead writer and veteran reporter Claudia Assis, Energy Ticker hopes to be the essential guide for those interested in the global business of powering our planet.